The 19-year-old recently finished his second collegiate season with the University of Michigan, where he led the team in scoring with 33 points in 32 games. He had five goals and 29 points in 37 games in his rookie campaign.

Hughes has been turning heads ever since he was drafted by the Canucks seventh overall in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft. The Florida native is an excellent skater with elite defensive talent who can control play on the backend.

Hughes earned a gold medal with the U.S. national team at the 2017 IIHF U18 World Championship and represented his country at the World Juniors in 2018 and 2019. He was an assistant captain of the USA team that won silver this year in Vancouver and Victoria, BC.

GM Jim Benning spoke very highly of the 5-10, 170-pound defenceman in a statement.

“Quinn is an exceptional skater, strong on the puck and plays with creativity and vision,” said Benning. “He was a leader on his team at the University of Michigan and has had success at the international level. We’re excited for Quinn to join our team and continue to grow his game as a member of the Vancouver Canucks.”

It’s unclear as of now when Hughes will make his NHL debut for the Canucks. The blueliner injured his foot blocking a shot Friday against the Minnesota Golden Gophers in a Big Ten best-of-three quarterfinal series. Hughes didn’t play in overtime of the loss and went for X-rays to determine his playing status for Saturday. Wolverines coach Mel Pearson said the injury wasn’t serious and it was later revealed that there was no fracture. Hughes reportedly suffered a bruise but was still able to suit up in that series-ending loss on Saturday.

According to John Shannon, Hughes will have a physical on Tuesday in Vancouver and will have a scan on that ankle he injured Friday to see how bad the injury is. It’s still possible he makes his debut when the Canucks return to action against the Rangers on Wednesday at Rogers Arena.

The arrival of Hughes comes at a trying time for the Canucks. The team has fallen out of the playoff picture with eight losses in their last 10 games. Erik Gudbranson was traded to Pittsburgh and Chris Tanev is currently sidelined with an ankle injury, opening the door for Hughes to get some valuable experience at the professional level down the stretch.

Because he turns 20 this calendar year, Hughes burns one year of his entry-level contract in the first game he plays. Hughes can play 9 games before it counts under the CBA as a pro year of experience. If he plays 10 games this season, it would make him eligible for selection in the 2021 Seattle Expansion Draft and the Canucks would be forced to protect him.

Hopefully the team gives Hughes ample recovery time and time to practice with the team before putting him in a game. Keep him from Seattle draft eligibility and don’t throw a kid playing on one foot straight into the deep end.

People love to dump on the Canucks organization these days, but Quinn Hughes is a good example of what they are doing right. The Canucks have never had a dynamic defensive propsect like him. They’ve had some good d-men, but never a defensemen who can drive the attack the way Hughes does. It will be fun to watch him over the coming years.

Wouldn’t it be nice if there were MORE good examples that reflected positively on this mgmt group outside of a couple draft picks taken purely due to how inept the entire team has been for 4.75yrs? Seems reasonable no?

I am optimistic that Hughes will give the Canucks D. a different look. It is a fairly big step up from NCAA hockey to the NHL so I am not expecting too much. Hopefully he will be another piece of the Canucks rebuilding, re-tooling that we need.

Aqua: So Jim, the wheels have fallen off as usual and there is no playoff revenue coming in yet again. How are you gonna make up for this?

Dim Jim: Well boss, let’s mug off the simpleton fanbase by bringing in young Quinn Hughes for a look. The hype alone will sell extra tickets and deflect the media and dumb fans from the reality of another lost season *chortle*.

Aqua: I’m pickin’ up what your puttin down Jimbo, but isn’t the kid injured?

Dim Jim: No problem boss, Greener will only play him 4 minutes a game and then bench him for roving. The fans won’t notice, they are used to it.

Aqua: Wow, you’d make an excellent slumlord likeme Jim. Make it happen and don’t forget to use key words like “foundational”, “still hoping to make the playoffs” and “young Paul Coffey” at the presser… the dumb fans eat that $hi(t) up that like i do every bald-facd lie you’ve ever told all of us you conniving old rascal.” yuk yuk yuk

Love that can add to our young core, Quinn should be a leader on our defence for years to come. Welcome to the team Quinn.
Now we just need 4 more pieces before we are ready to make a run at the cup and before we add any more (old) free agents.

So at the current rate of adding 1 high draft pick per year, we should have those pieces sometime around 2023-24, just in time for the original core (Horvat, Boeser) to be entering UFA. Gotta love the glacial pace of this rebuild …

Well not really. We “added” Pettersson at the 2017 draft and Hughes at the 2018 draft. They didn’t appear out of thin air but as the result of 2 agonizingly bad seasons. That’s one player per year, exactly as I explained. The rest haven’t shown themselves to be of any significant value yet, and outside of Gaudette, don’t really project to be.

“Scotty Bowman once said you need eight or 10 homegrown players on a team to win a Stanley Cup. I believe in that theory. Guys that you draft and develop, they work their way through your system, so that is kind of what our goal is.”
”To me, that is our lifeline, our young prospects coming up. That’s how we are going to build our team, through drafting.” Jim Benning
Horvat
Markstrom
Hutton
1.Boeser
2.Gaudette
3.Pettersson
4.Hughes
5.Juolevi
6.Virtanen
7.Demko
8.Woo
9.Madden
10.Lockwood
Rathbone,Gadjovich,DiPietro,Brisebois,Jasek,Palmu,Brassard, + 2019 draft picks
McEneny,MacEwen,Chatfield,Sautner,Eliot-young free agent signings

Hughes makes 11 Benning draft picks that have played in the NHL,eight of which will have played for the Canucks during this season.Next year we will see Juolevi and call ups from the AHL as prospects season.Scotty Bowman’s ‘eight-ten homegrown players for a Stanley Cup’ theory has already been achieved.
There’s a lot more of Benning’s drafted players or “names” to pull but I listed the players with a shot to make it.
I missed Lind so besides the 8 that have played for the Canucks this season there are another handful or so that could make it.
Throw in this years top draft prospects and the only shortage is with some fanatics patience,which has been well documented on this site.

Like I say @Bud Poile, that’s a lot of names but not a lot of quality. EP40 (5th overall), Boeser (23rd), probably Hughes (7th) are the only impact players Benning has added in 5 (FIVE!!!) years at the helm of this supposed “rebuild”. You can list all the Mcewans and Brisebois’ you want, you don’t win games or cups with marginal talent and that’s about all Benning has shown he has an eye for in his time here. Yes, maybe next year we’ll finally see Juolevi (5th overall) play some games. Meanwhile Tkachuk and Keller will be in their 4th and 3rd NHL seasons respectively and playing at or near all-star levels. Yes, Jake Virtanen (6th) is a bonefide 3rd line NHLer. Meanwhile Nylander and Ehlers are top line players on their respective teams. But it’s super cool that you can list a bunch of guys that the Canucks have drafted and you delusionally think will all make the NHL some day.

I love the way he lists Horvat, Markstrom, Hutton at the top – all Gillis signings and McEneny who is also a Gillis acquisition. Plus Petersson who was discovered, scouted and chosen as ‘thee guy’ by Brackett (Gillis guy) and Gradin… a Pat Quinn hire.

So Benning seems to understand that draft picks are the long term solution. He just doesn’t seem to possess the capability of actually acquiring any of this “gold”? Hmmm… That doesn’t reflect poorly on him at all now does it?

That’s pretty bold. Until something changes with regards to the cap, I don’t think their will be any team as deep as the 11 canucks. The only team I’d say was equal or better was the 10 Hawks. Every other Cup or Pres trophy winning team since has had some flaws. Either D depth or forward depth. In my opinion the 10 Hawks and 11 Canucks were the two best teams of the past 10 years. It will be very difficult for the canucks to build a team like that the way the league is set up.

Our core players (Pettersson, Boeser, Horvat) are producing at a much younger age so we’ll have them longer. We’ve never had a defensive prospect as good as Hughes, PP QB’s like Ehrhoff and Brown were trade acquisitions at a much older age. There’s a lot of potential in Gaudette and Demko based on their NCAA/AHL performances. That’s 6 players who will eat up a good chunk of our cap. Every other team has to deal with the cap, I’m pretty happy with this core, save for the absence of another bigger top pairing RHD.

Possibly. That’s still a lot of “what ifs” and “potential”. I’m happy with the young players so far too, but it remains to be seen how it will all play out. I’d rather not even bother speculating about what they “might” be and just watch how it develops. Nothing wrong with hoping for the best, but there comes a point where it’s just “sports talk” for the sake of “sports talk”, and doesn’t really mean much.

So …. looking forward to 2019-2020, could the starting D look like this?
Edler / ?
Hutton / Stecher
Hughes / Tanev
Joulevi as the 7D by Christmas or into 2020.

“Ideal’ scenario is they find a RHD who can grow into a top RHD (I said ‘ideal’). Current arrangement is faster and should be able to move the puck than the 2018-19 team. They are somewhat soft and lacking a hard shot. Who should they attempt to get?

Karlsson and Myers are available this season as UFA’s. Tyson Barrie may be available next year, assuming he doesn’t sign an extension with Colorado. Barrie might be the best bet, as he wouldn’t break the bank to the extent Karlsson would. He is smallish, though, at only 5’10”. And the Canucks already have two small d-men on their roster. If the game is really all about speed and skill now, maybe it doesn’t matter as much.

It is very nice to see a player want to come play for Vancouver.
This is a good kid, and I want to remind all of you that he is just a kid. Please don’t whine about his size.
He has high end skill on the offensive side and quick, early release from the defensive side.
His high hockey acumen is a jolt to the Canucks in the future.
I doubt if Travis Green will give him much time this year. He probably is sick about thinking about his defense and I don’t blame him.
I imagine he will work in and out of a few games next weekend.
Like I said earlier, gotta like a kid that wants to be here.

The Canucks have 13 games remaining. Anyone else concerned about JB allowing Green to play Quinn more than 9 games, forcing the team to protect him at the Seattle draft? I mean cmon it’s just 4 games in the press box…small price for the value of protecting a another defenceman. Yet I can’t help feeling that they’ll go ahead and let him play all 13 and “worry about all that other stuff later”. I used to have hope, but now I just don’t trust this regime to make smart decisions. It’s like they worry about hurting players’ feelings at the cost of sound asset management.

Of course there is concern, look no further then the albatross contracts DimJim has handed out thus far, as it wouldn’t surprise me if QH and his agent made it clear he has to play in at least 12 of the 14 games remaining (hope I am wrong ☺) also, if QH agent is smart hope he indicates that his client is not prepared to sit on the bench for 56 minutes watching if God forbid he actually makes a mistake.

Dude I agree, but the signing is done… And with his pedigree he will most likely be asking for the maximum ice time and games played.. Like I said, I don’t actually agree with players demanding entitlement however, in this case the player does game the upper hand considering the team has nothing to offer for the fans at this point… JB & FA wants to fill the seats… So if was his agent I would ask for the maximum

Well if he wants to upset his coaches, teammates and fanbase then he should do exactly what you say and show up here making demands because Petterson, Horvat, Boeser et. al have nothing to offer the fans at this point, as you state, and Hughes being drafted 7th overall now gives him some kind of special treatment before he has even practiced with these guys who he already thinks have nothing to offer the city, as you have pointed out.

Never said I agreed with it bucket… You seem to have a hard time reading what I said… Should I repeat it again so your thick brain can comprehend a simple point… I am just stating what may happen.. ? And with JB and his lack of negotiating skills and hand outs then his agent should gets what’s best for his client… Doesn’t mean I agree moron

Ahh, name calling. The surest sign that your argument has just failed, amateur. I read just fine, you are just incredibly lousy at explaining your point. So let me get this correct then, you are just stating what ‘might’ happen. There are literally countless scenarios which could take place including, but not limited to, monkeys flying out of my butt. Does pointing out one scenario out of trillions upon trillions of potential scenarios help make your argument any better? I’ll agree with you on 2 points. 1) I do have a thick brain for storing all that extra information. 2) Braindead really is the best name you could use for yourself, for all I know your last name is Benning. Now if your mommy lets you put on your big boy pants and come up with some more insults all on your lonesome then I will happily receive them and taunt you some more.

Wish. I could reply to. BUD THE JB JOCK SNIFFER. but ya, McCann is a better player then JV. He kill penalties and is out when the net is empty on the opposing teams…better stats as well… Too bad dimjim traded the wrong player… Kinda like Seguin..JB was very vocal for that disaster trade

That seems to be the currency of the haters, think of the worst that could happen, post like it’s fait accompli, then whine like it’s already happened. Describes basically the entire Bulis message board and most of the Athletties

I paid for the Athletic for fantasy football coverage and Pronman, Boy Genius and the occassional Biech article are the only redeeming Canuck coverage. Bulis is essentially unreadable and has been for 2 years now.
You should love it there it’s like a circle jerk of negativity. Of course some of the commentators can actually string 2 coherent sentences together so it’s still a little over your head.

Yet threatening people from the safety and anonymity of your computer is about the most cowardly act a so called man could do so my hats off to you coward! Why don’t you hide behind a big safe fence and shout at people knowing they cant come get you? That defines big balls to me…

While I think this season is pretty much done now I think if the Canucks give guys a full camp like Leivo, Pearson, Schenn, maybe Spooner to go with young prospects like Quinn Hughes, Juolevi, maybe Zac Mac plus any accrued July 1st FAs it’ll be a much better season next year. They’ve been pretty entertaining this year but have gone as far as they’re gonna go this year. Can’t wait to see Hughes in his # 43 but don’t pressure the kid.

Can the worthies running CA please explain in simple terms to the great unwashed that come here to follow the Canucks why it is so difficult to detoxify the forum? I’m sure there must be a technical reason for the long-suffering fans having to put up with the hydra variously entitled PQW, Matty T et al. I’m a long-time lurker, very occasional poster and soon to be ex-lurker if this cesspool cannot be cleaned and kept clean (for the most part). Looking forward to a response.

Other Nation sites don’t allow it.
Canucks Army encourages it.
Why? Don’t really know.
Maybe if 50% of us take half a year away, that’ll send a message….. or they’ll just go back to making up the trolls themselves, but they already got caught doing that.
Ryan needs to grow a pair or get out of the way.

Ryan Biech explained a few weeks ago that the way how the website is set-up, you have all-or-nothing administrative access. It’s a terrible IT infrastructure (hello, role-based access?) but that’s their reality. Unless they can find a moderator who they can trust with access to the entire website, from an IT security aspect, they are better off letting the trolls run rather than potentially giving away the website to a bad actor.

@CanuckleheadOz If you avoid a site like CA because you don’t like some of the comments at the bottom of the page (which you don’t have to read btw) … maybe the internet isn’t for you?? You can’t expect the world to be moderated to fit your narrow view of things :shrugs

More than some, less than others. Just doing my small part to combat the wave of pro-management shills that show up to chill any legitimate criticism of the current regime. It’s a drop in the bucket but this has been my team since 1991 and it pains me to watch it abused by the incompetent buffoon in charge.

Oh it’s all good. I’ll leave the name calling to the guy who cries about the “trolls” ruining his daily CA read. What they don’t realize (or perhaps do but are paid to ignore) is that “Benning Haters” are that way because we love this hockey club and want someone competent navigating this tricky rebuild, not a bozo who can’t sits tight every TDL and spends every July 1 overpaying every 30+ old depth player he can. Being a Canucks fan =/= having to be a fan of bad management just because he’s employed by the Canucks.

Hahaha so what? you got like a cape and some tights with a big J on them? Our hero, coming all the way to the CA commenting boards to save the team from the Benning sympathizers. Wow, I expect real change now! Whatever would we have done before you came along?

@Bucket, honestly I’m not here for the head-in-the-sand / paid shills like you. I’m just here to support people who can look at things rationally and come to reasonable conclusions about this management group. But it’s still nice that you took the time to post 🙂

Thanks Super Jim! My hero. As kind as he is heroic! So in other words you are here to support only your opinion and troll those who disagree with you but not engage in healthy debate? I’m sure you’ll fit in here nicely right under that bridge. Anyway let’s see how that works for ya and whether you have any success, and well done for coming up with such an intricate plan. Proud of you!

So your theory is that a pattern of signing college players late in the season that Benning has followed in 2017 and 2018 is just intended as a distraction in 2019, even though it makes perfect sense to do so.

People who continually dump on the Canucks’ management should just remember a few things:
– They just lost the two longstanding leaders of the team, who retired in the offseason. They represent about 80 points combined that are suddenly gone from the team’s offense.
– The best players on the team are 23, 21, 20, and 19. (One of them is yet to play a game in the NHL)
– They have had Calder trophy candidates two years in a row. That’s never happened in franchise history. Not many teams have ever had that.

The point here is that the team’s best days are ahead. They’ve dropped in the standings the past couple of months because their young players are not yet ready to carry the burden required. The team is making progress. That progress isn’t showing in the win column just yet, but it will soon.

No Mamot – bringing in Hughes with the season over and burning a year of his ELC is a pathetic PR stunt to deflect from the reality of another bottomfeeder no playoffs season, keep the media distracted and to sell tickets by hyping up the fanbase.

However it’s already turned into a mess because the kid is injured and his father has admitted it lol. Do *try* and keep up – you sound like a simpleton.

Benning did the same thing with Boeser in 2017 and Gaudette in 2018. Were those also publicity stunts?

However it’s already turned into a mess because the kid is injured and his father has admitted it

You are apparently unaware that the injury to Hughes on Friday’s game was widely reported at the time. Everyone already knew about it. His father wasn’t “admitting” to anything. Despite the injury, Hughes played on Saturday, so obviously the injury is a mild one. Do try to keep up.

They did exactly as they said they would from the beginning of the season. Signing him in March once his season finished at Michigan providing his team didn’t go on a long playoff run. Last time I checked it was March and the Wolverines were done in the playoffs. If it was a PR stunt then it goes way back to before the season started. You aren’t even good at being a troll…

Re:PQW/Pheenster/PotKettleBlack/Matty T/Jim Burner’s accounts.
It’s difficult enough to have to sift through your endless accounts of you insulting others but this responding to yourself through your various personalities remains disingenuously childish,silly and sadly disturbing.